


The New Kid

by K (Thiswasmydesign)



Series: Wammy's House Series [2]
Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: And is really cute, Another version of how Near got his name, Beyond is 11, Beyond's just as awful as ever, But a bit broken, Fluff with a side of evil, Gen, Mello is 5, Mello's too enthusiastic, Near has a teddy bear, Near is 4, Tooth Rotting Fluff, Wammy House, Wammy's Boys, Wammy's Era, but quite sweet really, seriously gonna give you cavities, shameless fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 16:29:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13768038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thiswasmydesign/pseuds/K
Summary: Near arrives at Wammy's house. Mello tries to make a new friend.





	The New Kid

Mello had been at Wammy’s house for almost a full year now.

He was a year older, a year wiser, and a year braver than the white-haired child holding Wammy’s hand at the gate, listening to Wammy’s nice speech before they would start that long walk up the drive to the child’s new home.

Mello was a full _five years old_ , older than he had _ever_ been, but he hadn’t seen a boy with white hair before. Only old ladies, and old men if they weren’t bald – and their hair wasn’t this white. Snowy white, like a cloud.

Mello liked clouds. He liked soft things; soft things, and chocolate. Although, if he had to choose, he would prefer to have the chocolate.

And, he decided, he liked white hair. It was very pretty.

The little boy wasn’t crying. Most of the kids that came to Wammy’s were crying, when they came.

Mello hadn’t been crying.

Mello had run up the path before Wammy could even talk to him. He had wanted to make sure he got inside before they could kick him out again.

Before they could realise how useless he was.

But, he wasn’t useless. They told him that, really soon after he came. He wasn’t useless, he was _clever_. He liked being clever. And he was brave. Braver than all the other boys and girls. He could climb to the top of the roof, when he was able to sneak away from the staff.

Brave enough to look after all the new kids, when they came to Wammy’s. He made sure that they weren’t bullied, and got the best beds, and the best chocolate. If they were nice, he would make sure they got anything else they wanted, too – even if he had to steal it. Wammy told him it was bad, but if it made them happy, how could it be bad?

But the other kids didn’t like Mello. He didn’t really get it, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want them, either. Well, except Matt. Matt was his Best Friend, with capital B F, and he liked Matt more than all the other boys.

But he liked white hair _even_ _more_ than he liked Matt.

He was waiting at the door when Wammy brought the new boy in.

“Give him some space, Mello,” Wammy told him when the boy hugged Wammy’s leg, a white teddy bear clutched under one arm, his thumb in his mouth.

“It’s okay,” Mello impressed on Wammy. “I can look after him!”

“No, Mello,” Wammy told him; Mello clenched hands into fists, his face going red. The white-haired boy looked out from under white eyelashes. Mello stared – the boy’s eyes were pink.

“Wow,” Mello gasped, rushing to look at the eyes more closely. He had never seen pink eyes before, either. “You’re really pretty.”

“Mello!” Wammy rarely raised his voice. He hadn’t, before Mello arrived at the orphanage.

“But he iiis,” Mello whined, stomping a foot as Wammy gently took his shoulder and pushed him away from the white-haired pink-eyed child clinging to the man’s leg.

Slowly, the white-haired child pulled his thumb from his mouth, rolling the teddy bear along his arm, and held it out towards Mello. Mello, because he was such a grown up and so much Bigger than the white-haired boy – with a capital B he was so much bigger – had to lean down to look at the teddy bear properly.

It had pink eyes too.

“Wow, it’s pretty, like you!” Mello beamed at the other child. He reached out a hand “Can I see…”

“You can see!” the other child snapped, tugging the bear back in to his chest. Mello dropped his hand.

“Yes, I can,” he nodded in a very grown up way. “I’m sorry, it’s your teddy, I won’t steal it, I promise.”

“Pinky swear?”

“Pinky swear.”

He held out the teddy, letting Mello touch it this time. Mello took hold of the teddy’s hand.

“Can I show teddy around your new home?” Mello asked, beaming.

“No!” the white-haired boy squealed, clutching the bear back in to his chest.

“But you could come too,” Mello told him. “Teddy would want to see his new home. I’ll hold one hand, you hold the other?”

The white-haired boy’s other hand unwrapped from around Wammy’s leg, the thumb positioning in his mouth. He wasn’t very sure about this, but the bigger boy was being very nice, and teddy would want to look around.

“Okay,” he nodded, having chosen. He held teddy out again so the big boy could hold his hand.

“Okay,” Mello looked to Wammy.

“Be good,” Wammy reminded him, letting him go.

“I promise,” Mello agreed. “Pinky swear!”

Mello rushed away, tugging teddy and the white-haired boy behind him. The littler legs had to run to keep up.

“So, what’s your name?” Mello asked his new friend. He should know his new friend’s name first.

“…Nate,” the boy managed to talk with his thumb still in his mouth.

“No!” Mello rolled his eyes. “That’s your old name, your boooring name. What’s your Wammy name?”

“What’s a Wammy name?”

“It’s like a nickname, only Better,” with a capital B.

“Oh…”

“Yeah,” Mello grinned. “You don’t have one?”

“No.”

“Then we’ll get you one! I know, I’m going to call you Near, because you’re nearly the prettiest thing I’ve eeeever seen!”

The white-haired child, Near, just sucked his thumb.

“Well, do you like it?” Mello beamed. “It’s a special name, the best name, because I made it, you see, and I’m the best!”

“Okay,” Near murmured around his thumb.

“Come on, I’ll show you the best room, it’s next to mine,” Mello tugged the teddy along.

Around the corner, up the stairs…

And straight into a leg.

Mello fell over backwards, landing on top of teddy. Near gasped, curling up in a ball, trying to tug teddy out from under Mello.

Mello jumped up, fists in balls.

“Go away, B!” he stood really really tall, tall enough to threaten the eleven year old.

“Ah, Mad Mello,” B grinned. “And what do we have here?”

“None of your business!” Mello roared, rushing at the older boy. B grabbed his hair, holding him away as he tried to punch the older boy.

“You’re new,” B tipped his head, teeth bared in an evil grin. Near curled up tighter, clutching his teddy. “What’s that you’ve got there?”

“Leave him alone!” Mello kicked B’s leg. The older boy hissed at him like a snake and pushed him over. It hurt! Mello tried not to cry. He was too old to cry.

“Ah, a teddy bear,” B had pulled the bear out of Near’s hands. He had it above Near’s pretty white hair, so his pretty pink eyes had to look all the way up to see it.

“Give it back…” Near’s voice was very little around his thumb.

“No.” B pulled the teddy’s head off, and gave Near back the body.

“Teddy!” Near squeaked, holding it tight to his belly. “You’re mean!”

“It’s about time you learn, little sheep,” B leaned down right into Near’s face. “I’m the Boss around here. That’s what B stands for. You tell anyone about this, it’ll be your head next, not teddy’s.”

Mello jumped up. He was big, and strong, and he could protect Near. He ran as fast as he could and grabbed the teddy’s head, pulling it out of B’s hand.

“Leave him alone!” he shrieked, punching where Wammy told him never to punch. B grabbed that place. “Liar! You’re not Boss, you’re Bully Backup!”

“You little…” he kicked Mello, and then he kicked Near, too, just because he could.

“Leave him alone!” Mello screamed, getting up even though it _hurt_ and going between B and Near.

“You’re not worth my time,” Backup turned around and walked away.

“Yeah, you’d better run!” Mello shouted after him, kneeling down next to Near. The littler boy was staring at the wall, his hands shaking. “Hey, it’s okay, he’s gone away now.”

Near just stared.

“Hey, can you hear me? B’s gone, I scared him away,” Mello tried to tell Near, but he just stared at the wall. “Hey, look, we can fix teddy… I can show you how.”

Mello tried to take the body part, but Near had it held too tight to his belly. Mello put the head on top instead.

“Look, it’s okay, we can fix him,” Mello showed, putting the head on and off. “See? We just need some glue or something…”

Nate continued to stare blankly at the wall.

“Mello! Leave him alone,” Wammy scolded, pulling the older boy away. Mello hadn’t even heard him come up the stairs. “What did you do to him?”

“No… I didn’t… I wasn’t…”

“Be honest with me, Mello,” Wammy was mean; couldn’t he see Mello was trying to help?

“I didn’t…”

Wammy’s mouth opened in that way that meant he was really surprised and mad. He was looking at the teddy’s head in Mello’s hand. Mello slowly worked out what he was looking at, and threw the head to Near.

His aim was bad. The teddy head hit Near in the face.

“Oh Mello,” Wammy looked sad. That was the worst kind of angry. “Mello, you will go to your room.”

Tears sprang to Mello’s eyes, little fists clenching.

“But it wasn’t my fault!”

“Mello…”

“I didn’t do it!”

“Mello…”

“It wasn’t me!” Mello shrieked between sobs. He tried to stop; he was too old to cry.

“Mello!” Wammy rarely raised his voice, but when he did it was normally Mello’s fault.

“But…”

“Come on,” Wammy took his hand and pulled him to his room, closing the door behind him. Mello screamed and shouted, hitting the door with little fists, trying to break it down.

Mello hated time out, but he hated it even more when it wasn’t his fault. They lasted five minutes, but only when he was quiet; they were five minutes when he was quiet.

It wasn’t fair.

And it wasn’t his fault.

So, it lasted _hours._

Mello didn’t even get dinner.

He stayed in his room when his time out was finished. The other boys would only laugh at him.

The door opened without anyone knocking. Matt would knock.

“Go away!” Mello shrieked, jumping out of bed ready for a fight.

The door stopped opening, but a bit of white hair poked in, followed by a disembodied head of a teddy bear with pink eyes.

“You said you would fix teddy?”

It was Near.

Mello rushed and opened the door. Near was holding on at the other side and was almost pulled into Mello by the door.

“Sorry,” Mello was sad. He had told his new pretty friend to go away. “Come on in, I have some glue around here somewhere.”

The glue didn’t work. Near didn’t cry. He didn’t look sad, or happy, or anything. He just looked.

“We’ll find a way to fix it, I promise,” Mello promised, tucking teddy into a pillow case bed so that he would be comfy while they found something to fix him with.

Near sucked at his thumb, looking at Mello. It was then that Mello realised he hadn’t even asked Near whether they could be friends.

“Would you like to be my friend?” he held out his hand. Near looked at it, then took his thumb out of his mouth and with the damp hand shook Mello’s.

“Okay.”


End file.
